Institute for Empirical Research in Economics, Laboratory for Social and Neural Systems Research, University of Zurich, Switzerland.
Neuron. 2009 Dec 10;64(5):756-70. doi: 10.1016/j.neuron.2009.11.017.
Promises are one of the oldest human-specific psychological mechanisms fostering cooperation and trust. Here, we study the neural underpinnings of promise keeping and promise breaking. Subjects first make a promise decision (promise stage), then they anticipate whether the promise affects the interaction partner's decision (anticipation stage) and are subsequently free to keep or break the promise (decision stage). Findings revealed that the breaking of the promise is associated with increased activation in the DLPFC, ACC, and amygdala, suggesting that the dishonest act involves an emotional conflict due to the suppression of the honest response. Moreover, the breach of the promise can be predicted by a perfidious brain activity pattern (anterior insula, ACC, inferior frontal gyrus) during the promise and anticipation stage, indicating that brain measurements may reveal malevolent intentions before dishonest or deceitful acts are actually committed.
承诺是人类特有的最古老的心理机制之一，它促进了合作和信任。在这里，我们研究了信守承诺和违背承诺的神经基础。受试者首先做出承诺决策（承诺阶段），然后他们预期承诺是否会影响交互伙伴的决策（预期阶段），随后他们可以自由地信守或违背承诺（决策阶段）。研究结果表明，违背承诺与背外侧前额叶皮层、前扣带皮层和杏仁核的活动增加有关，这表明不诚实的行为由于对诚实反应的抑制而涉及到情感冲突。此外，在承诺和预期阶段，内侧前脑岛、前扣带皮层和额下回的恶意脑活动模式可以预测违背承诺，这表明在不诚实或欺骗行为实际发生之前，大脑测量可能会揭示恶意意图。
